The control of livestock has always been a problem. With the disappearence of the herdsman and the desire to leave the livestock unattended it brought about fences and with the fences gates. Gates have always been a problem since they are often left open and it is irritating to the driver of a vehicle to have to stop and open a gate then drive through and stop again to close it. What was needed was a gate where one could drive through and it would still be an effective closure.
Efforts were made to carry out such a desired function without a barrier. Some of the prior art devices had grates requiring a "pit" to be dug beneath the grating to give the impression of insecure footing to the livestock, others had poles to be used as the grating, others are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,539,214 and Canadian Patent 83,121. In the U.S. Pat. No. "214" there is shown straps spring mounted in a frame that can be depressed to the ground for the passage of persons or a vehicle but is a deterrent to the passage of cattle. Applicants device differs considerably from the above in that there are two solid gratings that are spring mounted by common springs to adjust for a desired angle of incline at the center or can in fact be disconnected and pivoted for complete blockage of a passageway. In the Canadian Patent "121", there is shown a cattle guard to prevent cattle from straying off a railway crossing on to the railway track. It consists essentially of a platform and casings that when tread upon actuate a whipping device to deter the passage of cattle. This device bears no resemblance to applicants device since as pointed out heretofore there is provided a pivoted grate that is adjustably spring biased, that can easily be traversed by a vehicle or person but gives the impression of insecure footing to the cattle and therefore is an excellent deterrent to passage.
It is readily discernible that the above two prior art patents neither singley nor combined teach anything that remotely resembles applicants portable livestock gate.